Tilt Type

Tilt Types

Tilt Type was event that talked about the various forms of "tilt" in League of Legends, provided by the Riot Games Player Support. All the content about Tilt Type was released on September 6, 2019.

Introduction

What's Your Tilt Type?

We all get tilted. But whether it's frustration or hyperfocus, a desire for justice or a desire to just give up, the spirit of tilt takes many forms.

Take the test, learn the lore behind the four Tilt Types of myth, and see which one speaks to you.

Tilt Types

• The Barbarian
• The Paladin
• Lord DGAF
• The Scarred Veteran

Passionate – Focused – Explosive

 Barbarians. This outspoken tilt type represents feelings passion and frustration in equal measure. Impulsiveness drives them to confront and challenge all external sources of tilt-- no matter the cost. Crackling with a spontaneous, driven energy, the Barbarian favors those who act first and do the deep breathing exercises later; players who feel the need to do something about it when tilted. Whether flipping a table or commiserating with a friend, negative feelings must be given immediate release.

To master the Barbarian spirit within, a healthy outlet for venting goes a long way. It thrives by finding constructive releases for pressure experienced from the game and others.

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Tilting Moments
• Notable Barbarians
• Ventbot

• The Barbarian Spirit has many beneficial aspects that inspire us to compete and defy the odds.
  1. Headstrong: This type compels us to fight for what we want, to take big risks and defy the odds. With the right intentions, the urge to engage, debate, and challenge can be powerful and productive.
  2. Belly Full of Fire: Confidant and motivated, the Barbarian represents a strong sense of self and unwavering conviction. They trust their intuition, relying on their gut to discern right from wrong.
  3. Furiously Focused: Anger and passion can be a double-edged sword, but when harnessed by a Barbarian who's mastered their emotional storms, they provide a clarity of purpose that helps them drive the change they want to see.

• When fully tilted, the Barbarian Spirit goes to war, compelling us to lash out or play recklessly.
  1. Chat is a Battlefield: "Don't feed the trolls." "Don't fight fire with fire." "Just laugh it off." To Barbarians, it isn't that simple to brush off disrespect. Insults, annoyances, and disappointments are felt deeply and personally.
  2. Blinding Rage: Succumbing to the Barbarian's dark side heralds a shift in focus away from the big picture. Small slights become monsters of frustration that devour your good time.
     When the moment gets heated, it feels like it's the only moment that matters. Anger is tricky like that.
  3. Weak Kneed: Barbarians can often be their own worst enemies, self-sabotaging and attacking others for vengeance or satisfaction. The urge to lash out may satisfy in the moment, only to lead to tension amongst friends and teammates.

1. Unsolicited Advice: You've just been murdered under the safety of your own turret. Feeling a rush of blood to the head, you grit your teeth and clench your fist. Wanting to just move on and forget, you see a message from a teammate: "Play safer," they suggest, and now you're tilted to oblivion.
   Coping technique: PREMATURE /MUTE ALL. Few things cause tilt like having mistakes pointed out in an obvious and unhelpful way. One coping trick is to /mute all after your first silly death or accidental error. This helps to minimize stress and embarrassment and keeps you from seeing comments that make a frustrating situation worse.
2. Feelings of Humiliation: You're behind in CS and the enemy jungler is pitching a tent in your lane. You aren't playing poorly, but you're still behind and each brutal gank makes you more and more tilted. You want to stop the bleeding, but it feels like an impossible waste of time.
   Coping technique: LOSE LANE GRACEFULLY. Knowing how to play from behind - sometimes really behind - is one of the most underrated skills in the game. Instead of giving up or trying to force the issue, learn the art of defensive play. If done well, this calculated adjustment may even cause your opponent to tilt worse than you.
3. Others Playing Poorly: Moment: We've all had games where it feels like we can't be stopped, only to see our teammates drag us down. This feels almost unfair, like nothing is within our control and it doesn't matter how well we play.
   Coping technique: THE 40/40/20 RULE. The 40/40/20 rule is the idea that, generally speaking, we're going to lose 40% of our games no matter what, win 40% no matter what, with the other 20% being directly under our control. It might sound fatalistic, but accepting that we have no control over certain wins or losses is liberating and helps to keep the most painful, unfair losses in perspective.

• Atilla the Hun: Infamous conqueror and noted Barbarian Atilla the Hun earned the name "scourge of God" after running his tribal armies down the middle of the Roman empire.
• Thomas Edison: Focused, passionate, and intense, famous inventor Thomas Edison became so tilted by Nikola Tesla that he embarked on a lifelong crusade to destroy him.
• Michael Jordan: The 2nd greatest basketball player who ever lived had a famously ruthless competitive streak, often sparring with teammates if tilted.
• Boudica, Celtic Queen: A fearsome warrior and ruler of the Iceni tribe of Celts, Boudica's moment of tilt came when the Romans annexed her late husband's kingdom after his death. Vowing to “Win the battle or perish," she led a brutal rebellion against the Roman Empire, daring them to 1v1 her from atop a fearsome chariot.
• Anonymous Player, 2014: "Yeah, I like to flame a lot. I think flaming helps because it is better to unleash my rage in game instead of letting it stack inside me. If you think about it, what is so bad if someone is flaming you in game?"
• Anonymous Rioter: "Hey, I'm not a Barbarian!" Narrator: they were.

Feel the urge to type something...not especially positive? Need to blow off steam after a frustrating game? Take it out on Vent Bot instead!

Vent Bot accepts your salt with open arms, and doesn't judge. Gain catharsis by screaming into the proverbial void!

The website features an embedded Ventbot powered by Dialogflow.

Responsibility – Justice – Overzealousness

Against all odds,  the Paladin tilt type believes reason, order, and logic should win the day online. Honorable, and with values rooted in fairness and responsibility, a tilted Paladin views mistakes or willful ignorance as an ultimate evil, and evil must be judged. This can lead a team to victory...or alienate it through criticism and mass-report threats. Not everyone is aligned with the sometimes overzealous ideals of this type, and when fully tilted, its disciples are fueled with feelings of resentment, exasperation, and the need to exert control.

Those who master the Paladin spirit learn to accept and make the best of a chaotic situation, using strong strategic and leadership skills to steer a sinking ship to victory.

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Tilting Moments
• Notable Paladins
• Playlists: Mental Music

• The Paladin represents responsibility, order, and accountability for all.
  1. Helping Others: While many people on the internet don't take well to the Paladin's unsolicited advice and feedback, it's often well-intentioned and valuable (and usually correct, of course).
  2. Try-hard: The spirit of the Paladin embraces the "try-hard" title others bestow upon them, and shakes their head at those who use don't show effort in improving or fixing mistakes.
  3. Accountability: Whether it's judging a new teammate or the effectiveness of a game's report system, the Paladin holds others to high standards and expects things to work as intended.

• In their most tilted form, the Paladin may resort to condescension, lectures, or threats to punish others.
  1. Overzealous: Sometimes Paladins can rise above others' attempts to derail them. And then sometimes they feel the urge to cleanse the fields below with the flames of 10,000 offensive player reports in the name of justice. Sadly, retribution won't prevent tilt.
  2. "I'll do it myself!": When Paladins decide a match is lost and their allies are beyond redemption, they may set out on their own path, vowing to carry the game by themselves and embarking on a noble, doomed split push.
  3. Lecturing: Criticizing someone's build order, second-guessing a teammate's decision, refusing to let mistakes go: these are symptoms of tilt and exasperation in a Paladin, and are ultimately unproductive diplomatically. Having realistic standards for teammates is vital for a healthy mindset.

1. Others Playing Poorly: You've made the call to take Baron, only to see your teammates wander towards the cloud drake instead. Baffled and furious, you wonder why they insist on being so wrong. The disorganization and selfishness we see in many games aggravates us and causes us to resent and question our teammates.
   Coping Technique: LEARN TO LET GO. It's frustrating to see a situation spiral into silly chaos. But the more we try to force things, the more they slip out of our grasp.
   Routinely practice letting go of frustrations and anxieties related to other people, and narrow your focus to yourself and what you can control (you may have to fight your brain on this). Mindfulness, deliberate breathing exercises, and finding some dark humor in your current situation all help.
2. Unpunished Players: You recently reported several players who clearly deserved it, and one day you decide to check their match histories to see if any punishments were handed out. When you see they're still active, you become frustrated at the system and the community.
   Coping Technique: FOCUS ON THE LONG-TERM. While reports are the most effective way to hold unsportsmanlike players accountable, it's not a perfect system and, for minor offenses, works best over time (which isn't exactly satisfying in the moment). Try practicing a more long-term view of justice, and see your reports as crucial pieces of evidence in a larger case rather than a smoking gun.
3. Petty Power Struggles: One of your teammates seems to think they're in charge: bossing everyone around, spamming pings, insisting on strategies you know won't work. Feeling like this person needs to be called out, you engage in a "spirited" debate with them that leaves you utterly tilted.
   Coping Technique: TACTICAL SPORTSMANSHIP. When a team is about to self-implode due to bickering, try the most calculated and cunning tool in the toolbox: positivity.
   Even if you feel nothing but disgust, say "good job!" anyway to subtly influence your teammates' mental state - especially ones who seem like they're on the brink of tilting themselves. It may seem forced or fake, but deliberate positivity is a strategy that disarms and disrupts those vicious, argumentative cycles.

• Maximilien Robespierre: One of the most influential figures of the French Revolution, Robespierre's overzealous interpretation of justice led thousands of perceived trolls, inters, and feeders to the guillotine.
• Empress Wu Zetian: Wu Zetian was an empress of the Tang Dynasty who would frequently and ruthlessly dismiss, exile, or execute those who stood against her in-game calls (reporting didn't exist back then).
• Martin Luther: In 1517, Luther, tilted by a system he believed was broken, nailed his famous 95 theses to a church door, sparking the Protestant Reformation. His targets included the clergy, which he claimed didn't do enough to punish bad in-game behavior.
• Athena, Goddess: Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, also dabbled in some competitive games. In one such contest, she challenged another who won -- but not in a way deemed acceptable or proper by Athena, who turned her opponent into a spider.
• Anonymous Player, 2016: "When people are deliberately ignoring my pings and then blaming me for their deaths, it causes me to get frustrated and that can lead to tilt on my part."
• Anonymous Rioter: "Oh no. It's true. It's too true. Especially the alienated feeling. I have press esc sometimes to keep myself from overly chatting in-game. I deal with my tilt by trying to understand that I only know things from my point of view. I mean well, but that doesn't mean much when I don't know the greater context."

Tilt has a way of sucking us in, monopolizing our attention and stressing us out. Music can be a great way to subconsciously soothe frustrating feelings, while amplifying positive ones. Put on a playlist like this in the background next time you game, or create one from music that sparks good vibes in you.

Easy-going – Fickle – Detached

 Lord DGAF represents feelings of detachment, foresight, and not taking anything too seriously. Walking the line between "chill" and "nihilistic," this spirit doesn't want their time wasted and won't hesitate to emotionally call it quits on a match or another player, all before the five-minute mark. This intuition can be a blessing or a deceptive curse. Those whose spirits align with the tilted Lord DGAF may find themselves mentally checking out of winnable games, allowing their mindset to be affected by feelings of boredom and disgust with their own play and that of others.

Masters of this spirit find ways to have fun even in the most tilting situations. Keeping engaged in goals beyond just winning is key to mastering Lord DGAF's pessimism and enjoying the game more.

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Tilting Moments
• Notable Lord DGAFs
• Random In-Game Goal Generator

• When mastered, people who fall under the Lord DGAF spirit are easygoing, helpful, and emotionally grounded.
  1. A Learned Advisor: You have seen the many ways this game can go, and are levelheaded and ready to help others. You have walked the twisted, tilted path and are willing to help newbies learn the ropes.
  2. A Healthy Outlook: "It's just a game," Lord DGAF firmly reminds you. "You can always try again with a different strategy! Gaming is about getting better and having fun." Depending on your perspective, this is a maddening refusal to admit one's mistakes, or a wise and valuable reminder.
  3. Laugh it Off: Lord DGAF teaches us to laugh at ourselves, understanding the best way to get over accidentally flashing into a wall is to acknowledge just how hilarious it looked.

• When tilted, many who walk the path of Lord DGAF find themselves jaded, laughing at the misery that can permeate a doomed game.
  1. Nihilistic Existentialism: Lord DGAF has no time for boring, stressful, or doomed experiences on the Rift (even experiences that are in fact NOT doomed). What pleasure is there in a match where your feeding bot lane has already damned us all? This mindset is contagious, causing players to stop caring about the game and start caring only for their own gratification.
  2. Surrender-happy: "Why should I try? We should FF. I know this is a loss," moans Lord DGAF. Those with the intuition to see a game is lost may have trouble escaping the spiral of tilt and negative thinking this spirit's questionable foresight causes.
  3. "U mad?": Lord DGAF's children know the best way to tilt an already-enraged foe is to ask if they're mad. But while this tilted spirit can give you the courage to not care in the face of frustration, it makes for an ultimately unfulfilling experience.

1. Wasted Time: You've played enough to know when a match is over before it even begins. Whether it's a botched jungle invade, or a teammate's "avant-garde" support pick, nothing tilts you more than having your time wasted.
   Coping Technique: PLAY WITH FRIENDS. Rationally, you can try to remember that every comeback starts somewhere, and that nobody's 100% accurate when it comes to predicting losses, especially when tilted.
   But the best antidote for the feeling of wasted time is to play with friends. Their presence can help alleviate feelings of boredom and impatience, and if things are actually going as poorly as you feared, it's a great way to turn the misery into merriment.
2. Unsolicited advice: You've just been murdered under the safety of your own turret. Fed up with the game, you sigh and try to avoid alt-tabbing. Wanting to just move on and forget, you see a message from a teammate: "Play safer," they suggest, and now you're tilted to oblivion.
   Coping Technique: PREMATURE /MUTE ALL. Few things cause tilt like having mistakes pointed out in an obvious and unhelpful way. One coping trick is to /mute all after your first silly death or accidental error. This helps to minimize stress and embarrassment and keeps you from seeing comments that make a frustrating situation worse.
3. Losing Lane: You miss last-hitting a cannon minion. Wincing in shame and frustration, you vow to get the next one, but you're so tense and focused that you don't notice the gank coming until it's too late. "It's only going to get worse from here," you think to yourself.
   Coping Technique: BABY STEPS: Lord DGAF tilts us by showing us the horrible implications of every little mistake. To prevent tilt, it's important to shift your focus from long-term extrapolation to the smaller steps you can take to come back.
   Forget about winning or losing, and set a few incremental goals for the next few minutes. Don't worry about winning lane -- focus on getting even in CS. Ignore the chaos in bot lane for now -- focus on getting your top laner ahead first.

• Franz Kafka: The brilliant, despondent Kafka was frequently tilted. His surrealist writing criticized life's inherent alienation and despair, and he frequently called for early surrender votes.
• Queen Isabella II: Although she may have thought Christopher Colombus was trolling, this Spanish monarch said "whatever" and financed his off-meta strategy to discover the New World anyway.
• Cassandra, Cursed Princess of Troy: A priestess of Apollo, she was given the gift of prophecy... but it came with a price. Able to see the future tragedies of her team, but unable to get her them to believe her, she saw the failings of her games over and over again until she went mad.
• Friedrich Nietzsche: "If you gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." So wrote Nietzsche, the nihilist philosopher and future recipient of zero "tilt proof" honors. Surprisingly, Nietzsche developed his bleak worldview without ever visiting the internet, which surely wouldn't have helped.
• Anonymous Player, 2014: "When I want to surrender, that game is already lost, because I don't even care enough to try anymore after i put my surrender vote up."
• Anonymous Rioter: "I'm a total Lord DGAF. I tilt easily, and I feel like I know the outcome of a game within the first 10 minutes. But I've learned to channel my tilt into actively improving game over game. I focus on small victories that prove to me that, even though the game might be a lost cause, I'm still getting better."

Does the game feel over before the three-minute mark? Is all hope of winning gone? Use these goals to shift your focus away from imminent doom and towards self-improvement and keeping your head in the game.

The website features an embedded goal generator that displays messages in a randomized order:

• Improving Your Play: Get 30 more CS in the next 5 min.
• Improving Personal Judgement: If the majority of my team requests for me to stop doing something, I listen to them.
• Improving Mentality: I do not care whether I lose or not, so long as I improve.
• Improving Mentality: I understand that in order for me to truly improve, I have to truly, honestly try my best.
• Improving Awareness: I check the map every 5-10 seconds.
• Improving Communication: I understand that muting is always an option and I will not hesitate to mute anyone whose messages are causing a negative impact on my performance.
• Improving Communication: Even if I disagree with a decision, if the majority of my team commits to a major decision, I do not hesitate to commit as well.
• Improving Mentality: I do not let myself get overwhelmed over instances such as losing streaks or feeders.
• Improving Communication: I won't spam the chat.
• Improving Communication: Ping any decision you make for the rest of the game.
• Improving Awareness: I will make sure to have two wards down at all times for the rest of the game.
• Improving Personal Skill: If I am losing my lane, I will focus on not feeding.
• Improving Personal Skill: If I do not have a ward defending me, I will not over extend.

Focused – Resilient – Obsessive

While some channel their frustrations toward others,  the Scarred Veteran presses forward and inward, suffering the slings and arrows of solo queue with grim determination. This spirit whispers that the only way to not tilt is to ignore it. To play another game. To stop on a good note. To get better teammates. The Scarred Veteran of tilt finds themselves alone at 3:00 AM, in the zone and desperately trying to break a loss streak. Who needs sleep when there's a win just over the horizon.

This spirit craves balance and healthy routines. Learning how to manage a state of hyperfocus is key to avoiding the habits that make an already-tilting situation worse.

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Tilting Moments
• Notable Scarred Veterans
• Flowchart

• The Scarred Veteran possesses many admirable qualities, including a hyperfocus on their goals that can block out any distraction.
  1. Flow State: A sense of effortlessness, of complete control, when time flies by as you're immersed in something you enjoy. These feelings can help you own the moment and achieve a state of flow.
  2. Level-headed: Scarred Veterans are goal-driven. By thinking long-term and remaining focused on the bigger picture, it's easier to compartmentalize and quickly move on from small annoyances and missteps.
  3. Mastery: Some folks jump from one interest to another. Scarred Veterans are more selective, preferring deeper investments with a clear path to mastering them.

• When fully tilted, Scarred Veterans can start to slip without breaks and mental resets.
  1. Trance-like Tilt: Concentration, steely determination, and hyperfocus can be a double-edged sword for this type. If the object of your attention is stressing you out, it's better to walk away and focus on something else.
  2. Suppressed Suffering: Tilt is like quicksand: the more you fight it, the deeper you sink. The same impulse to press on through loss and frustration could also enable Scarred Veterans to ignore its slow, self-sabotaging symptoms until it's too late.
  3. Bad routines: The Scarred Veteran is the patron saint of poor sleep habits and 4:00 A.M. marathons, where chants of "just one more game" echo through the night. Beware of burnout!

1. Losing streaks: Few things spread tilt like a horrible losing streak. The more we try to force things and break the curse, the worse we play. Those favored by the Scarred Verteran know the depths of this desperate, sinking feeling well.
   Coping Technique: MIN-MAX YOUR BREAKS. Momentum matters, and just as the numbers show it's beneficial to queue up immediately after a win, doing the same after a loss makes us play worse the next game. Structure breaks after losses, giving yourself a chance to clear your head and improve the odds.
2. Miserable Momentum: Your eyes are strained after focusing on the screen for hours. Letting out a tense sigh, you realize you should probably eat dinner after this next game. You're not having fun exactly, but you queue again.
   Coping Technique: Alarms! Set an alarm on your phone that goes off once an hour, reminding you to do a quick mentality check with yourself. How are you feeling? What's happened since the last time the alarm went off? Interruption mechanics like this can help us reset and re-assess.
3. Losing Lane: You miss last-hitting a cannon minion. Wincing in shame and frustration, you vow to get the next one, but you're so tense and focused that you don't notice the gank coming until it's too late. "It's only going to get worse from here," you think to yourself.
   Coping Technique: BABY STEPS. Scarred Veterans are creatures of momentum, and when one thing goes wrong it feels like a chain reaction has begun.
   Forget about winning or losing, and set a few incremental goals for the next few minutes. Don't worry about winning lane -- focus on getting even in CS. Ignore the chaos in bot lane for now -- focus on getting your top laner ahead first.

• Joan of Arc: France had been fighting England for a very long time, and everyone was tilted. After 100 years of war the French were getting ready to take a break when Joan of Arc, against all odds, inspired her team to play just one more game.
• Abraham Lincoln: "Honest Abe" went through a lot during the American Civil War, and while stoic and resolute on the outside, he frequently struggled with inner turmoil.
• Atlas: Atlas, a titan punished by Zeus, is required to hold the heavens on his shoulders. Only once given a break by his gaming buddy Hercules, Atlas was then tricked into pressing the 'play more' button again, continuing his never-ending struggle.
• Nikola Tesla: Constantly challenged by the tilted Thomas Edison, revered scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla always felt like he was just one invention away from victory, continuing to play the game of wits with his rival until he suffered a nervous breakdown.
• Anonymous Player, 2011: "It's so late and I feel like I'm about to die, but I can't go to bed without a win when I have been playing all day, I just can't."
• Anonymous Rioter: "Four losses straight. I've been demoted. But what do I do? Queue up again... I can turn this around. I'm two ranks away, but somehow it feels even closer."

Taking breaks can be a good way to reset after a tough loss or clear your head. To encourage this habit, try setting alarms, reminders, or consulting an intricate flowchart like the one below!

Quiz: Tilt Test

A test was available to determine what type of tilt the player is. There are 16 questions, and each question has be to be answered by of one five options: "Strongly Disagree", "Disagree", "Neutral", "Agree", or "Strongly Agree". The order of the 16 questions is randomized.

1. I have to admit that laughing at other players in League can be just as fun as winning.
2. If you're tilted, it's better to keep it to yourself than admit it to your team.
3. Frustrating losses stick with me for a while after the game is over.
4. If a teammate is doing poorly, it's good to give them some advice on what to do differently.
5. If my team falls behind early, I'll try extra hard to force big plays and spark a comeback.
6. I feel the need to end every play session with a win or I'm in a bad mood for hours.
7. I prefer focusing on lots of matches in one sitting rather than spreading them out over time.
8. Banter, trash-talk, and debate are an important part of multiplayer games.
9. It's hard to stay silent if someone is calling me out in-game.
10. When I'm tilted by a match, I often am calling for or supporting a surrender vote.
11. I almost never use chat in multiplayer games.
12. If things are getting spicy in chat, I won't hesitate to /mute all.
13. When other players are unskilled or acting like jerks, it feels good to put them in their place.
14. Taking breaks is important to me enjoying the game.
15. It's hard to focus on the match if I feel like it's a lost cause.
16. I blame myself more than I blame my teammates.

Media

• Videos
• Gallery

The Barbarian

The Paladin

Lord DGAF

The Scarred Veteran

The Barbarian Promo 1

The Barbarian Promo 2

The Barbarian Promo 3

The Paladin Promo 1

The Paladin Promo 2

The Paladin Promo 3

The Paladin Promo 4

Lord GDAF Promo 1

Lord GDAF Promo 2

Lord GDAF Promo 3

Lord GDAF Promo 4

The Scarred Veteran Promo 1

The Scarred Veteran Promo 2

The Scarred Veteran Promo 3

The Scarred Veteran Promo 4

References

Lore and Events